RJ Zayed

RJ is Chair of the Government Enforcement & Corporate Investigations Practice Group and Co-Chair of the IP Litigation Practice Group. He has extensive experience in trial and appellate advocacy. RJ has tried over 50 cases to jury verdict in federal court as lead trial counsel in both civil and criminal cases, including patent infringement, contract, civil fraud, and criminal healthcare, wire, and mail fraud cases. He has handled hundreds of bench trials, evidentiary hearings, and summary judgment arguments throughout the country, in both federal and state courts. He also has submitted, and argued, over 30 civil and criminal appeals before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Federal Circuits.

RJ has extensive experience in investigating, prosecuting, and defending complex white collar and government enforcement cases. While at United States Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota, he led the investigation and prosecution of hundreds of criminal cases, including cases involving bank, computer, healthcare, mail, securities, tax and wire fraud, false statements and claims, bribery, economic espionage, environmental offenses (including the then two largest criminal environmental cases in state history), large multi-defendant and multi-state conspiracies and conspiracies to defraud the United States, narcotics and violent crimes, organized crime, trafficking in counterfeit goods, and international offenses involving extradition. Since his return to private practice, RJ has conducted hundreds of internal investigations and defended numerous cases, many involving allegations of bribery and corrupt practices, bank, computer, healthcare, mail, securities, tax and wire fraud, environmental offenses, false claims, adulterated and misbranded drugs and medical devices and off-label promotion, and economic espionage.

RJ was appointed by the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota as the receiver in the matters of SEC v. Cook, et. al (09 cv 3333); CFTC v. Cook, et. al (09 cv 3332); SEC v. Beckman, et. al (11 cv 574); and In re Search Warrants (10 mj 00071). He also serves on the Court’s Criminal Justice Act panel.

Before becoming a lawyer, RJ spent seven years as a hardware and software design engineer for Honeywell, Inc., designing microprocessor based instrumentation and was awarded the 1983 Honeywell Technical Excellence Award.

Professional Activities

Serves the Court under its Criminal Justice Act Plan and is appointed regularly to represent indigent criminal defendants in federal felony cases